Hanging By A Moment
by Kit Kat Karma
Summary: I'm falling more in love with you" Follows 100 themes Challenge
1. I Introduction

Hanging By A Moment

"_I'm falling more in love with you" [Follows 100 themes Challenge]_

Introduction

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She was a small town girl, he was a small town boy thrown into a city world. She fixed him as he faced his battles that he swore to her that she could never be a part of. She fought his battles with him though. Though he pushed her away and feared for her safety in the most opaque way, but she stood by him. She stood by him until the end of his road. The one battle that he faced without her.

She feared for his safety, and when her world was going black he was the last thing on her mind. He was the last utterance on her lips. When she awoke she faced the facts that she was helplessly in love with the boy. She no longer denied it. She sat by the window and waited, waited for him. She waited for him to keep a promise. Two promises. His first promise was to come home and the second to make her cry from happiness. She knew that the second one would happen. She knew when the paper arrived from Central she would cry, because she knew his name would be blasted across the headlines as would his picture. With his cocky smile; the smile she loved so much and yearned to see.

However no paper came. A phone call did though. It was a normal phone call; it told them what they needed to know. It told them that they were coming home in a few days; it told them that Hohenheim had died in the fray. As she listened her eyes misted, however they hadn't made her cry yet. It would take more than a twenty minute phone call from the Xingese girl that they were bringing home with them. It would take him. Or the paper.

For the next three days she paced the house, wringing her hands. Most of the time her grandmother ignored her and just continued working without her assistance. When her grandmother did pay her a small mind, it was to remind her to eat or to stop pacing because she was scaring her grandmother's new students. She would just give her grandmother a blank look and calm down for a few minutes; then she would take back to pacing and watching the clock.

On the fourth day her grandmother was sick of her and sent the girl to Almanso's to get more sheet metal for the older woman's next big project and then check the post box at the train station. The girl strayed at the train station, because a train from Central was pulling in. She held tight onto her hat as the train blew a small puff of air over the station.

It didn't take the train long to unload, Rizembol was not one of the top ten places to visit in their now great country. She looked around quickly and saw a little Xingese girl with a thin gangly, sickly looking boy. She let out a sigh of relief and bit her lip. There was one missing. She shut her eyes and sadly waited for the other two to spot her, it was obvious that the boy she cared for did not want to return to his small hometown. The country boy that had left all those years ago must have grown fond of the city.

A small thump by her feet made her open her eyes to a boy, no a man placing a large suitcase down and two railway employees placing a wooden casket on the other side of him. He looked up at the stunned girl and gave her a weird look and then the cocky smile she had wanted to see days ago, "Not happy to see me?" She smiled and held back small sobs. He rolled his eyes and put down what he was working on. He stood and wrapped one arm around her. "It's okay…we are home…for good." She buried her head into his shoulder.

He had kept his promises. She was happy; she didn't care about anything else in the world. Until she had to lift her head to find out who was snickering at her. Then she turned and saw the other two up close. Then she cried again. The man let out an aggravated sigh began to speak jokingly, "Do you always cry at homecomings?"

She wiped her one eye and began to mutter her response, "No…only when promises are kept and all is right." The man rolled his eyes and unwound himself from the girl. His eyes wandered to his taller brother, who had wrapped a free arm around the small Xingese girl. The small Xingese girl was smiling eagerly waiting to be properly introduced, like a lady should be.

The young Xingese girl let out a huff, "Aren't we going to introduce ourselves?" She looked up at the taller boy and wiggled out of his grasp, a stern look plastered on her face. The younger boy raised his eyebrows in question to her question. She huffed again, "Don't act as if you don't know….!"

The man growled, "We don't know. Just explain." The fierceness in his voice had scared not only the Xingese girl and the girl that had come to greet them. The girl tugged on his jacket and gave him a disapproving look as the Xingese girl just rolled her eyes and ignored his outburst.

"Well in my country, when you have been gone for a long time, we reintroduce ourselves." She smiled and looked at the girl still clinging to the man. The Xingese girl extended a hand and smiled, "Mei Chan, Princess of Xing and you are…?" The girl unattached herself and took Mei's hand.

"Winry Rockbell of Rizembol." They shook and then Mei let go of Winry coaxing the taller boy and the man to do the same. The taller boy caved first and gave Winry a large smile and pulled her into a hug. A bone crushing one for that matter. Winry didn't know that someone so gangly could hug so hard.

"Al…." She gasped, "Alphonse!" The second one was more of a desperate command. He heard her worry and placed her back down. She took a deep gulp of air and gave him a smile. "I've missed your hugs Al."

He scratched the back of his head, "We'll….I've missed…so much, you know?" He leaned back down and pick up Mei's satchel that he had been carrying before. The small panda on it scurried up his arm and perched itself on his shoulder. He stifled a yawn and looked up at the sky. The sky was turning all of the colors of twilight. Al spoke once more, "I'm a little sleepy, is it alright if Mei and I run off?"

Winry nodded, "The house hasn't moved." Al smiled and nodded, taking up Mei's hand and leading her the way away and towards the Rockbell house on the hill. Winry watched the pair dash off and smiled. It was nice seeing something bud from the terror of what had happened. She stiffened as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She brushed the hand off and turned around slowly, facing the man. "Edward Elric."

He chuckled and looked at her sadly, "So much for an introduction." She looked him over for a few seconds trying to fight back the wave of sadness and relief. She fought and fought, but she was loosing. She covered her mouth to muffle a large sob. Then as Edward opened his arms she gave way and she collapsed into his chest. Edward sighed and gave to the embrace, wrapping his damaged Automail around her waist and his real arm around her shoulders. "I'm home and I am okay…I promise."

"I know." Was her muffled answer. He sighed and just thought on how he felt, a wave of relief had rushed over him. He was just so glad that she was safe and sound.

They just stood there, in each others embrace as the sky continued to darken. Edward not knowing what to think or say, he was too conflicted. His mind had wandered to his feelings about the girl in his arms. Then him mind wandered to his life now, it was almost as if he had a complete do over, a reintroduction, a fresh start. What would he do? He looked down at the girl…no…woman in his arms.

And he knew.

She would take center stage.

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Authors Note: Hi there, hope you liked the introduction part of my 100 themes challenge that I am doing. I think that the intro is the hardest to write and hopefully all the other chapters will be longer. Please I hope you continue to read my story, it's my first FMA story even though I've been following FMA since the begining of the manga. This is all manga/brotherhood based and it is spoilers galore. So...please continue reading, please review and...have a good day! :]

Sera


	2. II Love

Hanging By A Moment

"_I'm falling even more in love with you." [Follows 100 themes Challenge]_

Love

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He sat in front of his mother's grave. It smelled of fresh dirt and daisies. He placed his head in his hands and looked at the headstone. Edward knew no matter how much he stared and waited she wasn't coming back. His mother was gone and there was nothing that he could do about it; he wouldn't be stupid enough to make the same mistake twice. Then Edward let his eyes wander to the fresh grave of his father's. The funeral for Hohenheim had been yesterday and the dirt on top of his coffin did not have sod on it yet. Edward had been told that the funeral for Hohenheim had quiet a draw; people from places all over had come to thank him and give him last wishes. Mei had even dressed up in a traditional Xingese dress. Edward had skipped the funeral and that's why he was there now, sitting on a hill, alone. But he wasn't alone, he heard someone climbing the hill slowly. "Did Granny tell you to come and get me, huh, Al?" He heard the person stop. Slowly Edward turned around and locked eyes with a smiling Winry.

She finished her trek up and then moved over towards where he was sitting. "I didn't think I sounded like Al." Edward shook his head. "But he did tell me I could find you up here." Winry moved around until she was standing directly behind the man. She smiled, Edward had always come here to get away even when he was a little kid, and Granny could have always found him up here if he went missing.

"That sounds like Al, always ratting me out..." Edward said coolly, returning his gaze to the two headstones. Winry watched Edward as he carefully studied the twin stones. She just stood and waited, not willing to break the heavy silence. However, as it turned out, after a few moments of pause Edward broke the silence for her. "I've been up here all day and I can't figure it out."

"Can't figure what out?" She asked moving to sit down next to him. He inched over and gave her some room. Quickly Winry situated herself next to him and let him explain himself. She couldn't quiet get comfortable on the wet grass, but it was better than standing.

Edward leaned back, stretching his limbs out. "I've been thinking about my parents, and I can't figure out why she didn't stop him." Winry didn't need Edward to fill in the blanks; it was Trisha and Hohenheim, his parents. His parents had pulled apart and he had suffered, Edward never really got to learn what a happy family looked like. And in turn Edward never was able to understand Trisha's reasons to let Hohenheim go.

"I know why…" Winry said softly. Edward looked to her with a confused expression written on his face. She laughed and then continued, "What Hohenheim wanted to do was important to him and Trisha loved Hohenheim and trusted his judgment."

Edward raised an eyebrow skeptically, "That has nothing to do with why she didn't stop him." Winry let out an agitated sigh. She honestly didn't know that Edward Elric the Alchemical Genius was so thick skulled.

"It has everything to do with that," Winry snapped in a harsh voice, she turned her head away from him and continued softly, "She let him go because he thought it was what needed to be done and she respected his wish to fight the battles he did." She passed for a moment, "She let him go because she loved him." Winry felt a tear roll down her cheek; quickly she brought her hand to her face and wiped it away before Edward saw it. However it was no use, he saw it anyways. Edward sat up and moved closer to her.

"Is that why you let us go?" He asked carefully. Edward knew he was treading in to forbidden territory and took some caution, but he really wanted to get answers. Edward did not care if Winry wanted to kill him later for it, he would heal. He watched as Winry turned to look back at him.

She took in a deep breath and looked at him sheepishly. "Yes," Her pause only lasted a moment or two, "I let the both of you go because I respected your wishes to get your bodies back." Edward frowned at her, that wasn't the real answer that he was looking for. He was looking for the answer that Winry had given him about his mother.

"That's not why you let us go." Edward's statement caught her off guard, he had figured out that wasn't the real reason she had let them go. She didn't give in, she got defensive.

Winry frowned and flushed a deep red. She turned her whole body away and spoke in a cold voice, "No Elric I wanted you to go because I hate you, that's why I was crying. I was crying tears of joy!" Edward sighed; he hadn't phrased his statement correctly and was going to get his ass kicked because of it.

"Let me try and phase that again."

"You do that!" He cringed at the coldness in her voice. However Edward knew he was the one that caused it.

Edward let out another defeated sigh, "Winry…I was trying to say…did you let Al and I go…because you loved one of us?" Edward watched as Winry brought a hand to her head and she rubbed one of her temples. Edward smiled and watched. He enjoyed this part way too much. Winry turned around and looked at him, she nodded shyly. Edward smiled and nodded. "I figured as much."

She spoke softly, "I let you go because you wanted to go…and I loved you both enough to let you go. But…I guess I cared for you more than I had expected, because every time I saw youand then you both left I was empty, but I knew that you and Al where doing this because you needed to. So I dealt with it." Edward nodded. Winry fiddled with the drawstring on her pants trying to avoid all eye contact with the man. She had basically told him that she had loved him in an obscure way, but it was still embarrassing.

Edward picked one of the daisies off of his mother's grave and rolled it back and forth, "I cared for you too. When Scar was there and I had no idea where you where, it terrified me. I couldn't bear to loose another person due to my sins. Not another person I cared for." She nodded and placed her hand on top of one of his.

"We don't need to worry about things like that anymore then, do we?" She asked, azul eyes meeting gold. He nodded and put the flower back down on the grave. Winry pushed down on his hand and got up. Edward followed, pushing up off the ground and stretching out his limbs again. He watched as she slowly walked back down the hill ignoring him. He smiled and called back down after her.

"I'm glad to be home." Edward paused and spoke again, "I got to come back to the people that cared for me, something that my father didn't get to do." He watched as Winry stopped and turned around. She looked back up at him and nodded. She walked back up slowly and reached for his automail hand. Edward didn't retract his hand from her grasp.

She smiled lightly, and ran a thumb over the cold metal hand. "I'm…We're glad your home too." Winry choked and couldn't force out what she really wanted to say. Edward patted her hand, trying to be nice. Honestly he felt awkward being caught in a moment like this with Winry. However, Winry was watching him tense and let him go.

He breathed a sigh and nodded to her, "I'll meet you at home." She nodded and watched him as he walked down the large green slope. She had a chance to confess to him, a chance to kiss him, but the change was gone and Edward was walking down the hill. Winry continued to watch him until his form was just a small figure on the dirt road.

Winry rapped her arms around her bare arms and looked down onto the greenery, "I love you." She watched as the figure paused when Winry confessed her feelings to the wind. She paused hoping that he didn't hear her. Winry thought for a moment, she didn't care if he heard her, it was better if he knew.

It was better if he knew that she was in love.

In love with the Fullmetal Alchemist.

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Author's Note: Hello again. First off, my heart goes out to the Miners and family of the miners that where found early this morning dead in West Virgina, I hope you all keep those families in your thoughts. Secondly, if you haven't heard Poland has suffered a great loss as well, hopefully we will find out some more information about that plane crash soon.

Thank you for reading the second Chapter of Hanging By A Moment. The next theme is Light. Please! If you read, please review! The reviews keep me inspired to continue my work.

Read? Like? Review!

Sera


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